Waxwings!

Invasion of Bohemian Waxwings in my Cotoneaster frigidus the last couple of days . . . ;-)

Adult male, note the 'ticks' on the wings, and lots of red wax tips; not so visible here also a solid black edge to the chin

Resin

Adult female, note the 'ticks' on the wings, and fewer red wax tips; not so visible here also a diffuse black edge to the chin

Resin

Wonderful!

Immature (first-winter) male, note no 'ticks' on the wings just a pale line, and even fewer red wax tips

Resin

Thanks!

Immature (first-winter) female, note no 'ticks' on the wings just a pale line, and hardly any red wax tips; diffuse black edge to the chin, and narrower yellow tail band

Resin

Bad hair day!! (adult male again)

Resin

Here's lookin' at ya!

Note the binocular vision, both eyes pointing forwards so it can judge the exact position of the berries

Total of 35 in the flock

Anyone else, please add your Waxwing pics too, Cedar as well as Bohemian for comparison (and Japanese Waxwing too, if only!!!)

Resin

edit: typo

This message was edited Apr 10, 2009 1:05 PM

That's some do on the last two! Beautiful.

Great shots Resin! We have had a Bohemian Waxwing in NJ somewhere recently.

The photos are WONDERFUL -- thank you for posting them, along with the detailed observations. I love waxwings -- I haven't seen any (in the Boston area) for at least several years.

Just gorgeous! I have to admit though that I'm reading your descriptions and looking at the pics, and I still can't tell them apart! I didn't know that their eyes pointed forward like that though -- very interesting.

I saw some Cedar Waxwings yesterday. I haven't looked today. It's cloudy right now, but maybe I'll go have a look anyway.

Thanks for the great pics and for lesson (even though I'm a slow learner!)

Wonderful pictures and I learned a lot too!

Here is the Cedar Waxwing I got the other day.

MY BAD....Very nice pics Resin!!

This message was edited Apr 10, 2009 7:31 PM

Beautiful Shots Resin!

Wonderful to clearly see them in y'alls pics and thank you for the descriptions.

Thanks all!

Nice Cedar Waxwing; main differences from Bohemian are the yellow belly (are they really cowards?!? ;-) white under-tail (not red-brown), and plainer wing with no white or yellow stripes. They're also a touch smaller.

Resin

Wonderful shots of a really beautiful bird Resin.

Great pictures!!! What's really fascinating to me is that Resin, Nan and I and several others in various locations all get to see Waxwings this time of year. I need to learn more about these beautiful birds!

I like the looks of the Bohemians… they seem so much more striking.

Welll, maybe a bit....

Cedar waxwings just passing through. It was wonderful, and fortunately I was there with my camera because I haven't seen them since.

Another picture of my Cedar Waxwing's passing through.

Very nice pics Laynie!

Thank you Resin for explaining the male and female. I love learning about these beautiful birds.

Here's my Cedar Waxwing.

I like this one too of my Cedar.

Forgot to say great photos everyone!

Wonderful pictures everyone.

I'm surprised you all can get close to these. the only ones I saw last year were so uncooperative with being photographed.

I've never seen one!
Do they come this far North?

Here is the Bohemian's page. You can zoom on the map.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bohemian_Waxwing.html

Here is the Bohemian's page. You can zoom on the map.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bohemian_Waxwing.html

Here is the Cedar Waxwings.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Cedar_Waxwing.html

hmmm...they should have been here all winter then...

and the cedars year round...and this is prime cedar country...

3g, do you have bird Listserv's up there?

We have them and they alert us to any new sightings. They also say exactly where they are except for Owls.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2009 6:08 PM

I don't know...where would I look?

maybe just google wild bird listserv's for your area. Meantime I'll see what I can find out.

Here is an online one

http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/ONTB.html

Another. LOL, looks like you need to be careful what you subscribe to here.

http://www.sentex.net/~tntcomm/kwfn/listserver.htm

I found the first one...looks like not too bad...not sure about the second one.